Long Chen's shout was like poking a hornet's nest. People were terrified, terrified to the point of death. Such a loud noise would surely disturb these Heavenly Fire Spirits.
However, after running for a while, people discovered that although many Heavenly Fire Spirits' bodies moved, there were no other abnormalities, and they continued absorbing runes.
"You bastard, just you wait, I'll kill you sooner or later."
People were furious. This guy neither absorbed nor allowed others to absorb it—utterly despicable. Most importantly, with Long Chen around, no one dared to absorb it without worry.
Only a few bold people noticed something was wrong. The spirits of Heavenly Fire here thought absorbing the power of fire was important and couldn't be bothered with them. Long Chen shouted so loudly and was unharmed, which meant that as long as he didn't attack them, there was no real danger.
So, some began to imitate Long Chen and rushed toward the mountainside. However, when they approached these Heavenly Fire Spirits, they were extremely cautious and didn't dare make any major moves.
Just as they had guessed, these Spirits of Heavenly Fire ignored them completely, and they found that absorbing fire runes here worked even better.
It turned out that after these lavas flowed out, as time passed, the rune power inside would begin to diminish, allowing them to absorb more flame power here.
However, people were very cautious, only absorbing in the margins and not daring to venture deeper, because once they went in, if something happened, there was no way to escape.
Most importantly, they were afraid of Long Chen. In their eyes, he was just a madman courting disaster. No one knew when he might go mad. If these Heavenly Fire Spirits were completely enraged by Long Chen and dragged into it with him, it would be a huge injustice.
Those who come here are all powerful individuals with considerable strength. Those who dare to snatch food from the tiger's mouth have a certain level of confidence, but confidence and madness are still quite different.
"Should we go to Yamaguchi too?" Wu Yang looked at Long Chen standing atop the head of a Spirit of Heavenly Fire, peering into the mountain pass, seemingly lost in thought, and said in a deep voice.
"No, this bastard is full of tricks. It's very likely he's deliberately trying to lure us over.
When we get past and launch a large-scale attack, all the Heavenly Fire Spirits will be enraged. Being surrounded by so many Five Heaven Realm King-level Heavenly Fire Spirits is too dangerous. Zhao Mingxuan shook his head.
Last time, he was tricked by Long Chen and took a full-force strike from a fifth-tier Heavenly Realm King-level Heavenly Fire Spirit. Without the protection of a divine artifact, he would have been dead.
Now, seeing Long Chen, he wished he could bite him to death, but he wasn't blinded by anger. He was scared of being tricked and decided it was better to be cautious.
Everyone else was cautious, but Long Chen was not worried at all. Ever since Aunt Gong gave him guidance and gifted him the golden lotus seed, he felt as if he had returned to the days when he and Xiaoxue traveled alone to Xuantian Villa, full of confidence in himself, feeling like he was omnipotent and didn't know what fear was.
Now, he acts entirely according to his true heart, regaining his bold and reckless nature, no longer overthinking or hesitating, doing whatever he wants.
After intimidating everyone with a shout, Long Chen stood atop the head of a bull-shaped flame spirit, peered down, and saw the volcano erupting like a fountain, with lava continuously gushing out.
At the fountain's core, an egg-shaped rock kept tumbling, covered with strange patterns.
"Huo Ling'er, this seems to be the legendary Heavenly Fire Crystal, but its shape is a bit different. Go take a look." Long Chen said to Huo Ling'er.
Huo Ling'er transformed into a fire dragon and slowly swam toward the rock within thousands of miles. Soon, she sent a delighted voice transmission:
"Brother Long Chen, it really is a Heavenly Fire Crystal. Its fluctuations are exactly the same. However, the Heavenly Fire Crystal is wrapped inside the stone egg, so you can't absorb it directly without breaking it. However, I can sense that there are many Heavenly Fire Crystals inside this egg."
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, the huge stone egg sank down. Startled, Huo Ling'er tried to scoop it out.
"Don't rush. Use your clone to sneak down and see what's happening below." Long Chen said.
Huo Ling'er immediately transformed into hundreds of little fire dragons and dove toward the core of the volcano. Soon, she excitedly sent a message:
"Brother Long Chen, the bottom is full of stone eggs—hundreds of them, and there are also many scattered Heavenly Fire Crystals."
Heavenly Fire Crystal is a crystal stone formed from the power of heavenly fire. This item exists only in legends. Although Long Chen is well-read, he knows very little about it.
Soon, Huo Ling'er returned. Long Chen saw a fist-sized blood-red crystal in Huo Ling'er's hand. The crystal contained pure flame power, and a single crystal was like a small volcano. If detonated, its power would be astonishing.
"Huo Ling'er, what's wrong?" Suddenly, Huo Ling'er's soul fluctuated abnormally, startling Long Chen.
"Suddenly, I felt dizzy. The fire power within this lava seemed to ... Toxic. Huo Ling'er said, a bit surprised and uncertain.
Poisonous?
Long Chen was startled. When he looked at the Heavenly Fire Spirits lying motionless on the ground, he immediately understood:
"It seems these guys absorb the energy here and get poisoned too. As they absorb it, they're also poisoned. So as long as their lives aren't threatened, they won't bother with me."
Huo Ling'er is also a spiritual body, and like the Spirit of Heavenly Fire, she can also be poisoned. But human powerhouses are different; they can only absorb the most essential parts of the flames. They absorb it slowly, but remove all the harmful parts from themselves.
The Fire Spirit Body devours in large gulps, using the body to break down harmful parts, which is why it is poisoned.
After figuring this out, Long Chen immediately said to Huo Ling'er, "I'll fuse my soul power with you, I'll take the poison, take the Phoenix Blood Heavenly Silkworm Net, and go down to retrieve the Heavenly Fire Crystal. We need to get all the treasures before these people find out." Normally
, Huo Ling'er and Long Chen are not in a fusion state; she is independent. Only when Long Chen uses his flame ultimate move do they merge. In this fusion state, they share the damage.
Sure enough, after merging with Huo Ling'er, Long Chen discovered a strange power that began to invade his soul, causing it to burn.
Huo Ling'er was a spiritual body, and her own soul power wasn't strong, but Long Chen's soul power was vast as the sea. He didn't care about this little harm and could fully withstand it.
Huo Ling'er's power was limited; each time, she could only use the Phoenix Blood Heavenly Silkworm Net to trap a stone egg and drag it out. Long Chen then assisted Huo Ling'er in sending the stone egg into the chaotic space.
"Crash!"
When the stone egg entered the chaotic space, under the light of the golden lotus seed, it shattered instantly, and blood-red Heavenly Fire Crystals scattered across the ground, numbering in the millions.
"Wow, I've struck it rich!" Long Chen was both surprised and delighted, urging Huo Ling'er to continue the salvage.
"Hmm?"
Long Chen suddenly noticed that Zhao Mingxuan and the others, who had been stationary on the outskirts, had quietly approached the central area. They seemed to sense something.
"Clang!"
Suddenly, a loud explosion startled everyone again. Long Chen stood atop the horns of the Heavenly Fire Monster Bull, holding a golden gong, striking it fiercely. The echo echoed through heaven and earth.
"Wake up, everyone, stop sleeping, get upMeeting time, someone's fighting you for meat. After speaking, under the chilling gazes of the crowd, Long Chen struck the broken gong with a series of clang-clanging sounds.